Beneath Finland’s surface, a concrete maze to keep enemies out

Finland's extensive network of bomb shelters provides safety amid rising tensions with Russia, as a retired man checks on his wife's protection.

In late February 2022, a few days after Russia attacked Ukraine, the Finnish Civil Defence headquarters in the capital city of Helsinki got a visit from an elderly retired gentleman who asked whether the bomb shelters closest to where he lived in Merihaka, a coastal residential area in central Helsinki, were being maintained and in good condition. “It’s for my wife that I ask,” the septuagenarian pensioner told the officials. “In case anything happens, I want her to be safe when I am out there fighting the enemy,” he said earnestly.

Inside one of the bunkers in Helsinki (Sanjoy Narayan)